Preventing job loss for people with MS
The project aims to re-design and test an intervention for use in the NHS to help people with MS stay in work for as long as they want to.
About the project
The project aims to re-design and test an intervention called MS vocational rehabilitation for use in the NHS. It’s all about helping people with MS to stay in work for as long as they want to. The support is made up of an initial interview, a series of appointments, and a final appointment to assess progress. The topics discussed could include, for example, managing cognitive issues at work, or education about legal rights, or advice about reasonable adjustments.
It’s already been tested in a community setting. But since people with MS are diagnosed and followed up by health services, before doing further research to understand how effective the intervention could be, the team want to re-design and test it in the NHS. They also want to make a detailed plan to inform future work.
There are four parts to the project:
- Engaging with various people (including people with MS, charities, employers) to refine the models and theory used in the intervention.
- Finding possible ways of implementing it by reviewing the literature.
- Testing it within NHS services with employed people with MS, and looking at the outcome.
- Making a plan to inform future implementation, taking learnings from parts 1-3.
How will it help people with MS?
We know there are health benefits to working, in addition to the financial benefits. MS is usually diagnosed in people of working age, but less than half of people with MS are still working 10 years after their diagnosis.
The researchers hope this project will move us a significant step closer to implementing a system that helps people with MS stay in work for as long as they want to. Ultimately, this could mean that we end up with better ways of supporting people with MS who want to stay in work, or helping people feel more informed about their decision to leave work.
